This invention relates to an expansible gate, and more particularly to a lazy-tong baby gate having an auxiliary barrier for occluding the openings between the slats in the upper edge portion of the gate.
Lazy-tong gates are wll known in the art, as illustrated in the following U.S. Patents:
______________________________________ 60,678 Bresee Jan. 1, 1867 67,143 C. S. Snead Jul. 23, 1867 138,527 J. B. Powell May 6, 1873 508,750 E. Pickett Nov. 14, 1893 589,503 B. Hummers Sept. 7, 1897 675,399 A. E. McCormack Jun. 4, 1901 936,812 W. E. Robinson Oct. 12, 1909 2,859,811 W. H. Rusch Nov. 11, 1958 3,074,475 L. A. McPhaden Jan. 22, 1963 3,182,351 S. R. Kaufman, et al May 11, 1965 4,523,745 Killman, et al Jun. 18, 1985 ______________________________________
U.S. Pat. No. 138,527 to Powell, discloses a gate for a railway crossing having vertical rods F and H, and toggle levers J for obstructing the space between the lower portion of the gate and the ground when the gate is expanded in a closed position only.
U.S. Pat. No. 508,750 to Pickett, discloses a folding gate having auxiliary inclined bars I pivotally mounted on top of a gate which has lazy-tong bars pivotally mounted for movement in substantially horizontal planes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,745 to Killman, et al, discloses pocket-shaped shells 10 and an elongated pad 30 fitting over the top vertices of the pivoted gate slats to prevent children from being injured by the tops of the gate slats.
Lazy-tong type baby gates now on the market usually contain a minimum number of pivotally connected intersecting slats. Accordingly, large diamond-shaped openings are formed between the slats, particularly when the gate is expanded in a closed position. Furthermore, large V-shaped openings are formed between the slats in the top and bottom edges of the gate. These openings are of such size that a small child can insert his head into one of the openings and become entrapped or injured. The Federal Consumer Products Safety Commission has become increasingly concerned about the hazard of such conventional baby gates and particularly the large openings between the slats.